2007

Two years ago, NASA's Deep Impact spacecraft blasted a hole in Comet Tempel 1, offering researchers their first look inside a comet. One small problem: The cloud of debris was so thick no one could clearly see the crater. But now the dust has cleared and another NASA spacecraft is returning to the scene to examine the hole Deep Impact wrought.

When she blasted off onboard the Space Shuttlelast week, teacher-turned-astronaut Barbara Morgan carried millions of basil seeds to the ISS. Soon she'll return millions more "space seeds" for students on Earth to study.

NASA's Mars rover Opportunity is scheduled to begin a descent down a rock-paved slope into the Red Planet's massive Victoria Crater. This carries real risk for the long-lived robotic explorer, but NASA and the Mars Rover science team expect it to provide valuable science.

Lightningis more than just heat and light: it's a chemical factory that produces a natural pollutant called "NOx" that can affect both local air quality and global climate. NASA scientists are developing new ways to monitor LightningNOx from Earth orbit.